


Welcome to the Club

by Ver (verloren1983)



Category: Hikaru no Go, Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Series Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 09:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1893597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verloren1983/pseuds/Ver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hikaru starts seeing strange things that he can't explain- you know, the usual. Why does everything have to happen to him? Then he meets someone, finally, who understands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Club

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Qem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qem/gifts).



> I took the idea of a Hikago/Natsume crossover and ran with it, though I didn't get to take it as far as I would've liked. I hope it doesn't disappoint!
> 
> (Also, the youkai in the beginning is an Oni, if anybody was wondering.)

_Shit shit fuck shit._

Hikaru's lungs burned as he ran. His legs ached. He'd been running for what seemed like forever, and the... _thing_ behind him hadn't gone away. Usually they got bored by now, but this one was unusually stubborn.

A few months after Sai had disappeared, Hikaru noticed that he had started to see things he hadn't before. Things other people didn't seem to be able to see. At first, he thought they were ghosts and wasn't alarmed, but he quickly realized it wasn't like that at all. They were monsters. Demons. Whatever they were, they were terrifying, and dangerous if they realized he could see them. Case in point, the one chasing him now.

Why was it always Hikaru that these things happened to? There must've been some god somewhere that he'd pissed off and was laughing his ass off, especially now. These monsters made getting possessed by a ghost seem like a walk in the park by comparison. Yeah, Sai had been annoying, but he'd never hurt Hikaru, at least not on purpose. The monsters, though...

He was always getting chased and hurt and passing out these days, and he couldn't explain to anybody why. He couldn't even explain it to _himself_.

Hikaru's legs were going to give out any minute. Everything hurt. God, why had he ever quit soccer? He was so out of shape. He looked behind him- yep, the monster was still there. He had to end this. He darted between two buildings, hoping that the demon was too stupid to figure it out, and used the last of his energy for one final burst of speed.

That, of course, was when _he_ showed up. Hikaru ran straight into him in the moment he took to look behind him to check if the monster was following or not, slamming into him with a force that sent them both sprawling and landing on their asses.

"Ow," Hikaru groaned.

The person he'd tried to run over- a skinny guy about Hikaru's age, or maybe a girl with a flat chest and short hair, it was hard to tell. They were pretty like a girl, with blonde hair and eyes a muddy gold color that Hikaru had never seen before. They gave him a small smile.

"Sorry," they said, in a voice deeper than Hikaru was honestly expecting. A guy, then.

"No, that was totally my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going," Hikaru answered quickly,  
but the stranger wasn't looking at Hikaru anymore. His eyes were wide and staring at something  
 _behind_ Hikaru, and his heart suddenly dropped to his stomach. The monster had found him. Wait, did this guy see it? Was that what he was looking at?

"Nyanko-sensei!" the other guy shouted.

Hikaru had no idea who he was talking about, or to. There was nobody else around. There was suddenly a blinding white light, and then everything went dark.

***

When Hikaru came to, he was lying down on the ground with something soft under his head. He shot up to a sitting position, looking wildly around him. He was in the same area he'd been in before. There was no sign of the monster that had been chasing him, just the guy from before, and... was that a pig? He looked behind him, too, and the soft thing under his head was some kind of cloth all balled up. Hikaru wasn't missing any clothing, so he figured it belonged to the other guy.

"Are you okay?" the guy asked.

"Yeah, I think so. How long was I out?"

"Not that long. Twenty minutes, maybe?"

Hikaru nodded. Since the whole monster thing started, there were times when he'd be passed out for hours, so twenty minutes didn't seem long at all. He got out of it pretty easily this time.

"Thanks for, yanno, staying while I was out so I didn't get mugged or something."

"No problem. I'm just glad you're alright.”

Hikaru grabbed the bundle of clothing and handed it to him. “I'm Shindou.”

“Natsume.”

“Hey, you hungry? I'll pay for lunch, it's only fair,” Hikaru said. Well, that and he wanted to try and figure out if Natsume had seen the monster. It would be nice to have someone else see the supernatural elements around him for a change. “You can bring your pig.”

The pig bristled. "You insolent brat! I should eat you for that insult!"

"...okay, fine, talking pig."

"I'M NOT A PIG!"

“What are you, then?”

“I'm--”

“Nyanko-sensei!” Natsume said, a little too loudly. “He's Nyanko-sensei. That's all.” He laughed in that fake, awkward laugh that people tended to do when they were hiding something. Hikaru knew that laugh well.

This guy was weird. Not that Hikaru could talk, but he was convinced more by the second that Natsume knew something about that demon. Or demons in general, really. He _had_ to find out.

“So you like ramen? I know a great place.”

***

“Wait, you're from _where_?” Hikaru asked, nearly dropping the bowl of ramen in his hands. “What are you out here for?”

Natsume laughed. “I'm doing a favor for someone.”

“Must be a special someone to come all this way.”

“Misuzu is... special, yeah,” Natsume smiled.

“So what's the favor? I live here, maybe I can help.”

“Something was stolen from him that he needs back.”

Hikaru whistled. “Going all this way to hunt down a stolen item? Wow, you're a total doormat, aren't you?”

“That's what I keep telling him,” Nyanko-sensei said, finishing his ramen in one slurp. For a not-pig, he'd eaten twice what Hikaru had.

Natsume flushed. “It's complicated.”

“Okay, fine, I'll bite. What are we looking for?”

Natsume and Nyanko-sensei exchanged long looks.

“I appreciate the offer, but I don't think I should get you involved.”

“Seriously?”

“It could be dangerous.”

Hikaru snorted. “Walking down the street can be dangerous.”

Nastume seemed to hesitate, staring at him.

“When you ran into me, what were you running from?”

“I'm not sure you'd believe me.”

“Try me.”

Hikaru sighed. Well, even if the guy laughed at him, it wasn't like they were going to see each other again, so what did it matter? “It was a monster. It was big and red with a beard and horns and a wicked club with spikes on it.”

“You see them too,” Natsume said, his eyes wide.

“I told you I could smell something delicious before he ran into you,” Nyanko-sensei said. “He has too much spiritual power to not see youkai.”

“Spiritual power? What are you talking about? I only started seeing them recently.”

“Really?” Natsume asked. “Everyone I've met who can see youkai have always been able to see them.”

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm just special that way," Hikaru said. He looked down at the table, absent-mindedly drawing meaningless squiggles on the surface with his finger. He'd never told anyone about this, but if Natsume knew about demons, then ghosts weren't exactly a stretch, now were they? "I was... possessed by a ghost for three years, but he wasn't a bad ghost or anything. He taught me to play Go and everything, and that's my life. He was my best friend. But then he disappeared all of a sudden, and ever since then, I've been able to see the monsters."

He looked up to find that Nyanko-sensei was watching him with narrowed eyes.

"Ah, I see," Nyanko-sensei said.

"What?" Natsume asked.

"His strength isn't normal- much higher than what humans can usually contain. He must have had at least a little spiritual power to be attractive to a ghost, but when the ghost left, it must have transferred its power to him."

Hikaru blinked. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means, you brat, that your ghost must have fulfilled his purpose. He wouldn't have left his power behind otherwise."

"That's..." Hikaru frowned. "That's not possible. He wanted to reach the Hand of God."

"I don't really care, but that's why you suddenly see yokai."

Hikaru's head was reeling from the new information. "Well, can't I get rid of it, then? Give it to somebody else? There's got to be a way to undo this."

Nyanko-sensei snorted. "You're human, so no."

"Then it wasn't something Sai did. He wouldn't have done this to me."

"It probably wasn't intentional."

“So what now? I spend the rest of my life trying not to get killed?” Hikaru asked.

“They're not all dangerous,” Natsume said. “Some will ignore you. Some will even talk to you or help you. But yeah, there's a lot of running involved.”

“Especially in a place like Tokyo. With so many people here to eat, there are a lot of youkai. And you smell like you'd be yummy,” Nyanko-sensei said, licking his lips to punctuate his point.

“Dude, you have a people-eating pig?”

“He won't eat you,” Natsume said, glaring at the animal, which did _not_ make Hikaru feel any better. “Look, I know it's hard now, but you get used to it, and you learn which ones to avoid and which ones are friendly. They're a lot like humans, actually.”

“Usually humans don't try to eat me.”

Natsume smiled. “What I mean is, sometimes you can help them or do them a favor, and that makes things better. They'll return the favor when they can.”

“...you... want me to be friends with demons?”

“Not all of them, but it's better than running all the time, isn't it?”

Hikaru thought about this for a moment and then shrugged.

“Sure, why not.”

“We should probably go,” Natsume said. He took out a pen and scribbled something out on a napkin and then stared at it for a few moments. After almost a full minute, he sighed and slid it across the table to Hikaru. “I'll probably be in town for a few days, but call me after that if you want to talk.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hikaru answered, taking the napkin. He was surprised that this reserved guy was handing out his phone number to a virtual stranger, but then again, what harm could it do? And honestly, it was really nice to talk to someone who understood. Natsume probably felt the same way. “I totally will.”

Natsume paid for his and the pig's food and left. Hikaru didn't know whether he would ever see the guy again, but it almost didn't even matter. He'd made a new friend, and that was always awesome in Hikaru's book. It was even better that he could actually talk to him about Sai and the demons and stuff. Even if they just talked on the phone, it was better than keeping stuff inside all the time- and that way, he wouldn't have to worry about the pig eating him, either. Win/win.

Hikaru grinned as he left the ramen shop. He hadn't felt this good in months, and he didn't even see a single youkai all the way home.


End file.
